The Nasty Secret Behind Star Wars’ Simplest Prop

Before we can break down the weirdness of this prop, we need to review the context of how this Ewok bait was used. In one particularly stupid scene in Return of the Jedi, Chewbacca apparently forgets that he is an intelligent mechanic and pilot and immediately lunges for a dead animal carcass that is clearly a trap. Sure enough, the Wookie and his Rebel friends are soon caught in a giant net, and while R2-D2 is able to free them from the net, he can’t keep the group from getting temporarily captured by the Ewoks. 

Much of the Ewok bait scene goes by pretty fast, so it’s a bit hard to see what the bait really is. However, a closer examination reveals the weird truth: this is the backside of a taxidermied whitetail deer. 

Onscreen, the most prominent feature of this bait is the very prominent teeth. If you look closely, you’ll see those teeth are protruding right out of the deer’s anus, making this the grossest prop in Star Wars history.

It’s possible that the prop used for the Ewok bait (the animal was later identified as a “verkle” in the lore) was the inspiration behind a crazy conversation in Peacemaker. At one point, our titular hero is talking to the diminutive Judo Master and tells him, “ I wanna take you home, play with you with my G.I. Joes,” before suddenly warning him, “Just don’t f*** Chewbacca.” He then gives the “little-known fact” that “Wookies have teeth on their a**hole,” which he claims is “canon.”

Needless to say, this bizarre “fact” was made up for the show, and it led to so many Peacemaker fans searching for “do Wookies have teeth on their buttholes” that it trended online. Showrunner James Gunn posted about it on Twitter, and while this entire bizarre gag may have sprung entirely from Guinn’s twisted brain, we can’t help but wonder if he was inspired by the weird story of how the Ewok bait in Return of the Jedi was made, right down to the teeth in the butt.

The other big question is whether the crew of Return of the Jedi made this Ewok bait prop on their own or possibly bought one from a specialist and modified it for screen use. As you may or may not know, taxidermists often modify the backsides of deer with teeth and other additions. This allows them to use a part of the animal that would otherwise go to waste, and the new creations are often falsely described as mythological or otherwise unknown animals.

While he didn’t put it on his wall (at least, to our knowledge), that’s exactly what George Lucas did to create the Ewok bait in Return of the Jedi: combined a deer’s butt with teeth to create a new fantasy creature. It was a great idea, and the prop onscreen looks amazing.

However, we’re never going to view Han Solo’s complaint that Chewbacca is “always thinking with your stomach” the same after knowing that it was a teeth-filled butt that the Wookie was so hungry for.